Boers and Bernstein
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Boers and Bernstein is an afternoon drive-time sports talk show on Chicago's WSCR hosted by Terry Boers and Dan Bernstein, competing with WMVP's Mac, Jurko, and Harry. The program airs weekday afternoons from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. On days when the Chicago White Sox have a 7:11 start time, the program will often be extended half an hour leading into the White Sox pregame. The pairing debuted in 1999, and was aired during the midday until moving to its current time slot in October, 2005, making it the longest-running sports talk program in Chicago.
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[edit] The Hosts
[edit] Terry Boers
- Graduate of Northern Illinois University.
- Sports editor for the Sun Journal Newspapers in Lansing, IL.
- From 1973 to 1978, he was assistant sports editor for Star Publications, based in Chicago Heights, IL.
- Worked as a copy editor for the Detroit Free Press from 1978 to 1980.
- Joined the Chicago Sun-Times sports staff, where he covered the Chicago Bulls from 1982 - 1985.
- Was a featured columnist for the Chicago Sun Times from 1988 - 1990, and then covered a variety sports, until August of 1992 when he joined The Score.
- Has appeared on several television programs, including The Sportswriters on TV and "Sportsfire," both airing on SportsChannel Chicago.
- Has won several awards for outstanding journalistic coverage, including the Peter Lisagor Award - considered among Chicago print journalists as the local equivalent to the Pulitzer Prize, and AP awards for column and feature writing.
- Known to blurt out, "by cracky!" whenever anybody mentions facial hair.
[edit] Dan Bernstein
- Graduate of Duke University.
- He joined WSCR as a reporter/anchor in 1995.
- Named "Best Sports Talker" by Chicago Magazine, he is the city's only three-category winner of the Achievement in Radio Award (Best Reporter, Best Play-by-Play and Best Talk Show).
- His play-by-play experience includes five years calling DePaul basketball, and a current role with the Arena Football League's Chicago Rush.
- He has been a frequent guest on MSNBC, CNN and other national television networks.
- Prior to joining WSCR, he spent several years broadcasting minor-league baseball and pro basketball, and was the Public Relations Director for the Raleigh Bullfrogs of the GBA and the CBA's Rockford Lightning.
- Has filled-in for Dan Patrick as the host of his national sports-talk show, which airs on WSCR weekdays at 10 p.m. or 11 p.m.
- His favorite athlete as a child was Ivan Calderon.
The show's producers are Jason Goff and Matt Abbatacola.
[edit] Segments
- High Noon- A defunct, yet still popular (and oft-referred to), segment from their previous mid-day time slot, similar in concept to the later "The Extra Point," but with a gunshot sound effect after each item.
- The Second Half - A recap of the first two hours, followed by editorial remarks from the hosts.
- The Extra Point- The hosts offer opinions on a number of topics being covered in the mainstream media.
- Who Ya Crappin'? - Usually airs on Thursdays at 5:00 p.m. unless preempted.
- Friday Fung- A Friday segment of varying themes as dictated by the hosts. The title of the segment is a play on Ozzie Guillen's Venezuelan-accented pronunciation of the word "fun."
[edit] Who Ya Crappin'?
The program is best known for its featured segment, "Who You Crappin'?" The segment takes its name from an interview that co-host Terry Boers did with then-Chicago Bears head coach Mike Ditka, in which Boers criticized Ditka for being resigned to his imminent dismissal, and Ditka responded that Boers previously chided Ditka by saying that a fiery demeanor was "the wrong thing to do, so who ya crappin?" In the spirit of the initial confrontation, listeners are asked to expose--by calling, emailing, or texting--a member of or beyond the sports world who has "lied, misled, told a half-truth," or, best capturing the essence of the segment, "engaged in an act of verbal hypocrisy." Participants try to earn the hosts' tacit (or sometimes overt) approval through how well their entries are constructed and presented, with the key catch phrase concluding each entry. Callers who fail to approach the exercise correctly (something someone said, not something someone did) or take too much time to arrive at the conclusion are taken off the air and chided for their inability to complete the task. Regular "crappers" include Gary in Evanston, Ten-Foot Midget, Michigan Matt, the Blind Chauffeur, and the resident martial arts expert, Steve in Bolingbrook.
[edit] Friday Fung
- Ask Brian Urlacher Anything: listeners' questions are answered with a pre-recorded short quip by the Chicago Bears' middle linebacker from a press event where Urlacher responded to questions with monosyllabic answers or said "see foxsports.com."
- Ask Rusty: listeners solicit advice from noted caller "Rusty from Stickney (now Jacksonville)," who dispenses uneducated stereotypical blue-collar wisdom. Rusty's association with the show goes back to when he called back, saying that he was being kidded at work for being misquoted, until Boers and Bernstein played back the tape.
- Ask Us Anything: listeners ask the hosts anything. The hosts usually answer, and occasionally a guest such as Ken "The Hawk" Harrelson calls in to clarify how the Chicago White Sox "Pick to Click" works, after a listener asked.
- Cheaters Anonymous: listeners tell stories of cheating
- Crushing Defeats: listeners' tales of losses in life, sports, and other
- Daredevil or Dumbass?: listeners recount dangerous maneuvers which the hosts and producers judge as being exceedingly brave or exceedingly stupid.
- Dumb Arguments
- Dumb Injuries
- Greatest Sports Moments MISSED
- Imaginary Radio: Callers posit various things Boers and Bernstein did not say. An example was several callers saying that Boers and Bernstein said the Tour de France was a sport, contrary to B&B's position, after which another said that B&B never said that bicycling was a sport, but that Sheryl Crow had given Lance Armstrong testicular cancer.
- Mundane Sports Achievements: listeners recount vaguely athletic achievements in venues which can only barely be construed as sports, such as successfully hitting targets with litter from a car window.
- Relative Greatness: participants recount tales of their family members' celebrity encounters. Dave Corzine is a commonly encountered celebrity.
- Sports Apologies: participants stage apologetic press conferences for sports figures.
- Sports Collectible Items You Just Can't Get Rid Of
- Tales of Laziness: participants describe situations of extreme laziness, sometimes with unexpected vaguely athletic tie-ins along the lines of throwing a tennis ball at a television to successfully change the channel when the remote is out of reach.
- Wild at Heart: listeners recount outrageous attempts at picking up women
- Working Rules: listeners' stories of noncompliance with a rule
If Who Ya Crappin? is preempted, it becomes the theme for that week's Friday Fung.
[edit] Frequent Guests and Contributors
- Hub Arkush
- Steve Lavin
- Jimmy Piersall
- Steve Stone
[edit] Notable Events
- A caller inadvertently created a new character for the show, when he phoned in and chastised Boers, mistakenly calling him Larry Horse. Larry Horse, though fictitious, became a "member" of the show, and though he never spoke, was often mentioned, sometimes in skits (reference in a Matt Hasselbeck interview).
